Raymond Chandler Totally Explained

Everything about Raymond Chandler totally explained

Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American author of crime stories and novels of immense stylistic influence upon modern crime fiction, especially in the style of the writing and the attitudes now characteristic of the genre. His protagonist, Philip Marlowe, is synonymous with "private detective," along with Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade.

Early life

He was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1888, but moved to Britain in 1895 with his Irish-born mother after they were abandoned by his father, an alcoholic civil engineer for an American railway company. His uncle, a successful lawyer, supported them. In 1900, Chandler attended Dulwich College, London,
In 1912, he borrowed money from his uncle (who expected it repaid with interest), and returned to the U.S., eventually settling in Los Angeles. He strung tennis rackets, picked fruit and endured a lonely time of scrimping and saving. Finally, he took a correspondence bookkeeping course, finished ahead of schedule, and found a steady job. In 1917, when the U.S. entered World War I, he enlisted in the Canadian Army, served in France, and was in flight training in England at war’s end. Note that Judith Freeman's book perpetuates errors dating back to the MacShane biography relating to the death of Florence Chandler and a number of residences.

Farewell, My Lovely (1940). Based on the short stories, The Man Who Liked Dogs (1936) / Try The Girl (1937) / Mandarin's Jade (1937).

Red Wind (1938)

The Lady in the Lake (1939)

Pearls Are a Nuisance (1939)

Trouble is My Business (1939)

No Crime in the Mountains (1941)

The Pencil (1959; published posthumously; originally published as Marlowe Takes on the Syndicate, also published as Wrong Pigeon and Philip Marlowe's Last Case) Most of the short stories published before 1940 appeared in pulp magazines like Black Mask, and so had a limited readership. Chandler was able to recycle the plot lines and characters from those stories when he turned to writing novels intended for a wider audience.

Non-detective short stories

I'll Be Waiting (1939)

The Bronze Door (1939)

Professor Bingo's Snuff (1951)

English Summer (1976; published posthumously) I'll Be Waiting, The Bronze Door and Professor Bingo's Snuff all feature unnatural deaths and investigators (a hotel detective, Scotland Yard and California local police, respectively), but the emphasis isn't on the investigation of the deaths. Atlantic Monthly magazine articles:

Writers in Hollywood (December 1944)

The Simple Art of Murder (November 1945)

Oscar Night in Hollywood (March 1948)

Ten Percent of your Life (February 1952)

Published as

Stories & Early Novels: Pulp Stories, The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The High Window (Frank MacShane, ed.) (Library of America, 1995) ISBN 978-1-88301107-9.

Later Novels & Other Writings: The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye, Playback, Double Indemnity, Selected Essays & Letters (Frank MacShane, ed.) (Library of America, 1995) ISBN 978-1-88301108-6.Further Information

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